Hillary Goes Meta

Look, I don't think this debate is likely to do a damn thing in terms of the greater dynamic; I also think debates are given too much importance generally, especially when the campaigns are this deep into their ground strategy. That's why I'm not watching this one and kind of gleaning a general sense of it from others.

I would say that as someone who's been cognizant of pop culture for most of their life, it's one thing when a third party like SNL comments on a dynamic like, say, the press being in the tank for Obama, and quite another when the opposition candidate does it in the middle of a debate. Regardless of whether or not it's true, it sucks the coolness factor entirely out of the critique. Think how it would have sounded if George Bush started making fun of Al Gore's makeup or his harrumphing during one of their debates. Some things are better left to stew in the boiling pop culture pot. I don't see how you can possibly come off well talking about the debate process and the moderators in the middle of a debate. The press went for the jugular in New Hampshire and Hillary was rewarded with the backlash; is she trying to re-create that tonight? It won't work, at least not this way.

...adding, if there's anyone who deserves to be denounced for his debate moderation, it's Tim Russert. But there's a good way and a bad way to do it. Borrowing a Saturday Night Live critique is a bad way. Answering Russert's ridiculous I'm a blue collar guy question...

I’ve had a chance to read it very carefully. It does say that you pledge to create 5 million new jobs over ten years. And I was reminded of your campaign in 2000, in Buffalo — my hometown, just three hours down Route 90 — where you pledged 200,000 new jobs for Upstate New York. There’s been a net loss of 30,000 jobs.

...by saying, "Tim, when's the last time you were actually in Buffalo? What's the value of your house right now? Have you ever had to worry about what your kids are going to eat or how you can afford their college? Well, people I talk to from all across the country have..." would be the good way.

...Russert really is a complete fool. Playing gotcha with a Louis Farrakhan endorsement? It must be 1987, because that's the last time Farrakhan was relevant. Will Russert denounce the endorsement of him by Leona Helmsley and Ivan Boesky?